Beyond Pinnick’s No-Third-Term-Bid Decision

Amaju Pinnick has this past week gone on a media circus all in an effort to announce that he has shelved any plans for him to seek a third term as NFF President.

For a man whose word is not usually his bond, Pinnick is only playing to the gallery and he could still make a dramatic U-turn to stay put as NFF President even when everything and almost everybody have told him in very clear language he has overstayed his welcome.

He has spoken about how crucial his immediate family were in his decision.

But it was the same family that were against him seeking re-election in 2018.

Then he also swore he won’t run a second time for the NFF Presidency and this was recorded on video.

Yet, he still went against this declaration and he was re-elected for another four years of abysmal failure.

 Pinnick’s “very regrettable decision” not to seek a third term is his own way of dousing the tension caused by the unpardonable failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

He knows the football polity is very heated and at the same time believes that things will cool down a lot by him playing to the gallery.

He has also chosen his words very carefully in his latest declaration.

For one, he severally qualified his decision “for the moment” it is a “no-no” for him to gun for a third four-year tenure.

That means time could still change things and that could also mean he could rescind his decision.

This is a character who will not be ashamed to later come out to say that due to pressures from FIFA President and his buddy Gianni Infantino, sponsors and stakeholders, he will again be on the ballot in September.

This egoistic showman will lose far more than he will gain should he step down as NFF President and so his crazed desperation.

Pinnick is relevant in Nigeria Football today because he is NFF President and not because he is on the FIFA Council and the CAF Executive Committee.

For some one, whose means of livelihood has yet to be established, the NFF Presidency has besides making him relevant in the country, also pays his bills, from the Presidential Suite at the Hilton Hotel in Abuja to boasting a fleet of private and government cars that carry the unique number plate ‘NFF 1’, a la Airforce 1 for the President of the United States of America.

Do not be fooled by his statement that the NFF Presidency is “thankless”.

He also believes the NFF Presidency has so far shielded him from prosecution by the anti-craft agencies that have been confronted with a litany of allegations against him and his loyalists.

Thankfully, Nigeria has missed out on at least a $12 Million jackpot for qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar.

FIFA payments for qualifying for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups were misappropriated and mismanaged by the NFF under Pinnick.

And when he is no longer NFF President, will he finally face justice for his crimes?